Tales of the Barrow Clan
by natory'sZone
Summary: A Collection of one-shots about the Nature Clan known as The Barrow and what goes on in the lives of its dragons.
1. Start of The Barrow Clan

Noises, there were noises was what the newly created fae first detected. Something... felt off he knew... or was it he thought? But warily he opened his deep green eyes and took in his surroundings. He was curl up somewhere... a nest perhaps? But who's nest? or was it just his nest?

A phantom tug in his chest to DO something startled him as he tumbled out of the nest. Good thing cause the nest he had been... sleeping? yes sleeping in- disappeared to who knows where.

"Odd..." His own voice automatically said. Was that his first word? In fact how did he know these words? Questions everywhere! Perhaps he'd find answers elsewhere? Another question.

So the very plain patterned forest fae took his first hesistant steps towards the noise that had woke him. Turns out, the noise echoed from some far away place, every step never seem to bring the fae closer. The... Sun(?) hovered directly overhead before he stumbled upon a clearing. Now this clearing wasn't just a pocket hole within the dense jungle the Fae found himself in.

Nay, the whole clearing could house a hundred dragons (that's what he was? he thought, but where did the thought come from? was he missing memories?) anyway it could house a hundred dragons many more times his tiny size and still have spare space. To the East was where the noise came from, a thundering waterfall that emptied into a deep pool of the South was a large rocky cliff looming over the massive field.

The fae's tucked wings spread out as he hopped-glided towards the cliff, he still hadn't a clue how to use his rusty wings. Once he made it across, his...paw? Hand? whatever pressed against the cold- and very brittle he noted- stone.

Many minutes later you could find him clawing out a decent tunnel into the cliff. A passing Soil colored Tundra observed this as she watched the little Fae dig away at the brittle stone almost francticly.

"Nice lair you're making." The Fae flinched and went stiff as he turned around and saw the strange-and larger-dragon before him. She too bore those deep green eyes as he did, but she was covered in a thick material...Fur? But she looked friendly enough.

"Thanks." He stated blandly, he hadn't a clue how to respond any other way.

"Can I help?" The Tundra asked politely, toying with a pebble that have come loose.

"Sure,"The Fae started, but a thought bugged him."What's your name?"

"Ivoryfang," Was the imediate answer, but the Fae thought it an odd name."And yours?" Now that stumped the Fae. What WAS his name? He couldn't seem to recall if he had one or not. So he gave a very confused shrug and twitch of his head fins. That's when the Tundra's eyes filled with light-the light of understanding.

"Your one of the dragons created out of thin air aren't you? No parents or relatives?" The fae nodded instinctively, but really he hadn't a clue what the dragon was saying.

"Same here, sorta. I kinda escaped from Crim's pile." At that the Fae gave a fluttered of motion from his head fins, conveying his confused alarm. She escaped from somewhere? _Escaped?_

"Anyway, you need a name don't you?" Ivoryfang said, ignoring or not understanding the motion around his head.

"Yes, of course a name would be lovely." The fae felt a little proud, more words were coming to him now and his confidence in speech grew. The two dragons soon disccused about a series of names that the Fae could take as his own. Buchanan ended up as the favorite, and the fae was forever refered to as such.

It wasn't long before the hole in the hall became a decent home. And then more dragons came, ones they met and brought in with them. two became four and four to sixteen until the Lair had expanded to house a whooping fifty-five dragons.

So many tales in the time it took a pair of dragons to go from their humble beginnings to the number is was at now.

And Buchanan? He never did find out where he came from or where the nest he woke up in went. But he became a leader, despite his small size. He became wiser despite what others thought capable of his species. He carried out difficult tasks that others thought too hard for a frail Fae to do.

He did all this, and he wondered so much as he kept his clan together, gained respect for doing things no one thought he could accomplish. Now all he needed to do, the one thing he'd yet to do...

Was speak without a monotone. Ivoryfang could only chuckle as she watched and tried to help the Fae she fell in love with produce a lower or higher pitch.

**A/N: Been out of touch with writing for the pass couple of months, if you've been waiting for the next chapter of Returning, I apologize. I've had writer's block on it, but the next chapter is coming!**


	2. Council of Three

Lately it's been a trying time to hold the Clan together. When it was just him, his mate, and four other dragons it hadn't been so bad to lead the Clan he started.

Now? now there was over forty dragons living in the much larger lair. On one hand, it was everything he hoped for, a strong clan able to defend itself. But it came with many complications. He could not be everywhere to break up the fights,train the younglings, and teach everyone about everything. And while his eldest son Gavrilo did help in his efforts to hold the Clan together... it was hardly enough.

Buchanan flopped down in his den where no one could see him as he rubbed his forehead in frustration. Bjartr-a very flamboyant and often blunt skydancer- had once again pushed Impulse's short fuse over a steep cliff.

Of course the darn skydancer had to always accidentally annoy the one dragon in the whole clan that would bite your face off because of you looked at him funny.

"Young fae?" Azurite inquired as he peered through the opening in Buchanan's den. Buchanan didn't even need to look at the imperial to know it was him since the imperial was the only one who called him young fae.

"A problem, Azurite? or do just wish to chat?" Was Buchanan's usual reply whenever the imperial decided to visit him in his den. For it was one or the other, nothing in between.

"A suggestion." Simple, short, and already peeked Buchanan's interest. perhaps there was something in between. He conveyed his curiously through his head fins which twitched this way and that. Azurite being as old as he is- nearly three times older than Buchanan- he had had the time to learn the emotions faes sent via their head fins.

"It's something I had experienced within other lairs. Perhaps you'd like to make a... council... to spread out the duties of leadership between many dragons instead of on the shoulders of one?"

"Continue?" Buchanan's only response as he listened to the wise Soil colored Imperial explain every detail of this "council".

The night went and the light of the sun shone through to wake the many dragons of the Barrow clan. What a surprise some of them had when they heard that Buchanan was forming a small council, giving leader's duties to others! Many of the dragons in the Clan had been brought in as hatchlings so hardly any knew of such a thing.

"Now, I'll only be picking three dragons to fill this role of council members," The dragons who knew little cast each other excited faces, wondering if they'd get pick; a quick glance from Buchanan dropped their grins."These three fellows have been chosen carefully for roles I myself have not mastered. My most obvious choice is Azurite, far older than me with great wisdom. He shall be the Teacher in my Council."

Azurite flared his wings wide-spreading across a considerably chunk of the large room-before bowing down slightly in respect and humbleness.

"Any oppose?" Buchanan shouted in his usual monotone voice, his dark green eyes flickering across the entire room. There was an agitated grumble from Impulse, but that was expected of the headache-ridden guardian. Otherwise all dragons nodded their approval-Azurite reputation in the clan certainly showed he was well-liked by all members. Kabos was the only one to gave an angry hiss of disapproval, but only out of jealously of the imperial having more knowledge than he himself; nothing serious.

"Second,"Buchanan emphasized by jutting his plain rust wings outwards and up." Fei shall be the Warrior Trainer in the council, She shall teach each dragon who wants to fight in the Coliseum how to do so." There was more noise this time around as Fei stepped forth and sat besides their forest scaled leader. There was reason, he knew, for Fei wasn't the best flier nor was she the largest dragon in the lair-in fact even pretty short of length and height for a guardian. But she was a vicious warrior, better than any in the clan at fighting back familiars and enemy dragons alike.

And she silence each nay-sayer with a sweep of her abnormaly long wings, and a stern glare of her blazing orange eyes. Some seem to have forgotten that while she was motherly to most, she could snapped into a frightenly vicious battle mode in the blink of an eye and take down an enemy within another.

Once everyone settled again and Fei relaxed, their Fae leader continued in a booming voice.

"And the third and final member to be in our council..."Buchanan paused, bringing everyone to attention." Is Shadedfern." At this many dragons gave confused looks. While Shadedfern was one of the original four that had first joined, many hadn't noticed her. Some thought she was a ghost that other members spoke of.

But there, in the furthest, darkest corner came out the pearl dragon. Each step the shadow dragon took was small and silent, barely noticed as the shy pearl came up to sit next to Fei on her right.

"She shall be the Head-Medic in the council and if any body falls ill you are to take them to her." Now the unsure muttering increase. Could you even trust a Shadow dragon to heal the sick and wounded were among many concerns. Shadedfern simply gave a kind smile back at all the concerned dragons-no doubt in her eyes of the thought of her job. So quick and efficent at healing that even ones she treated for illness or scars still thought her as but a ghost.

But now they all knew she was real and solid as she stood before them with her obsidian clown body and seafoam shimmer wings clean and tucked neatly at her sides. It was Bjartr, the troublesome skydancer, who got the clan to stop their concern muttering though.

"She taught me everything about healing you know." He stated loudly for all to hear. Now Bjartr was too a healer in the clan and the dragon the clan would've thought most equipped to be the head-medic despite his less-than-perfect manners. His medic skills were probably the only thing keeping the other dragons from demanding he leave the clan.

Hearing him say that had the other dragons approving the choice of Shadedfern now, and soon all were nodding in agreement. (though their was whispers of 'if she isn't good we can have a vote to replace her' going around.)

"Well that's pretty much settled, now if something doesn't fall within their branch of job you come to me as you did before." Buchanan stated once everyone settled once again. A great part of him was relieved that the meeting went smoothly enough-and nobody decided to throw a riot unlikely as it was in this rather peaceful clan.

"Pardon," Fei started once the other dragons had been dismissed-the meeting over and curiosity about the newly formed Council thriving."But I think you might need a update on the FAQ list once the others start trying out this system." The banana circuit lines twisted as she smiled that knowing smile. And before Buchanan could reply that he already planned for that, she had rearranged her caribbean wings and wondered out to one of the hallways.

Of course the work never ends, but Buchanan was at least glad he didn't have to deal with hatchlings sneaking into the Coliseum to try and fight along side the adults Fei trained. Fei probably should've thought about that one. Or maybe Buchanan should've told her?

His brain was still too fried to worry about the details yet. For now, he could finally play on his leaf whistle again.


	3. It means Miracle

When he hatched...

When HE hatched-HE caused an uproar amongst the clan, barely a minute old and already he created unease. Mainly he caused this within his own mother who, at heart, believe in every myth and legend in the world.

Both his parents were Coatls; briliantly colored and flashy.

He was not...

He was pale; a terriable omen of bad luck. But his father, he'd like to disagree.

He loved his father for that, for standing by his side and helping him raise his drooped head in pride of his pale colors instead of in shame. But sometimes...

"He NEEDS to leave the clan!" Sometimes...

"Elessa! He's but a hatchling! Besides he's NOT unlucky- he's a point one percenter, he's a miracle." Sometimes... it hurt to hear them agrue, all because of his colors. But he stayed, the leader, Buchanan, and his well-respected council of three voted so. They did not believe his colors would bring ill fate down upon the rest of the clan. There were plenty of pale colors amongst them and not one ever brought bad luck on them and they wanted to prove a point.

But sometimes... he could still hear them,his parents, hissing and maddeningly hmm out accusions in the Coatl tongue. All because of his grey-ness, of his thistle wings, and the deepest black gems that covered every inch of him. Everyday he felt unwanted by some of the memebers and loved by the other half.

He was falling into depression; he started failing at his combat courses with Fei, couldn't pay attention to Azurite's history and world lessons, and most certainly couldn't stand Kabos' ramblings of magic and valuable objects.

Buchanan knew, he had to have known, or else Tane wouldn't have gone to the Auction house to get him that surprise gift, to pull him out the depression.

"Young fellow." Buchanan, the praised leader called out one day to him. Many wouldn't peg him as the leader, most clans would want a strong guardian or ridgeback as the leader. Buchanan was but a Fae- clad in iron armor and bore nothing but the most basic of genes.

Hardly worth a second glimpse... and yet he WAS worth it.

"Tane had gone out exalt resueing again. Thankfully he only brought one back, but I think you two would be good friends in my mind. Maybe you can kindly show her around the lair?" He hadn't expected it, hadn't thought anyone would approve of him even escorting a new dragon around for fear of something unlucky happening.

But the instant he laid eyes on the female imperial that strolled in, timid, but confident at the same time-he knew. he knew she was there on purpose, not because Tane decided at a whim to pay the travel and adoption fee.

"Hi. Guess your showing me around then?" She asked with a lovely texture voice. Whatever accent she had, it was a beautiful one making her voice feel like a soft caress on his cheek, but with enough volume that no one could even pretend she hadn't spoke.

"Y-yes... Bit of surprise I'll admit. I wasn't expecting to give an orientation... at all." He wasn't sure what to say to her as he was greatly-maybe even a tad bit happy- that she hadn't shy-ed away because of his colors.

Of her colors.

This imperial bore the same vast greyness tinged by thistle wings and the deepest black crackle as he did- well he didn't have the same genes, but the colors matched all too well with his own.

"It be nice to know your name." She said so kindly, laced with sweetness and love. How could anyone want her out of their lair was beyond his spand of knowledge.

"Karamat. It means 'miracle' or so my father says..." Karamat said in the common tongue which came so easily to him unlike many other Coatls. "Do you per chance have a name?"

"No... I am but referred to as Daughter of Torfri and Shaderain of the Shifting Expanse," She replied, that loving smile dipping lower now, but bouncing right back. "But I'm sure I'll recieve a name in no time!"

Karamat couldn't help but return a small smile back. Perhaps being a pale Coatl-a Pale anything-wasn't as bad as others made it out to be. But he already sent it on his mind to leave the clan one day, for he couldn't bare to stand the constant shifting eyes, whispers, and the agruements his parents had almost daily.

But perhaps... perhaps he'll take this Imperial with him whose smile was as bright as any flashy colors.

But he had to know, as they walked down hallway after hallway lit by fireflies in jars. he had to know something.

"And this is Impulse's den, he's a crounch and definitely needs his space..." He trailed off as they past yet another room, up ahead was an opening into a small area that had a circlar hole in the ceiling that let the light shine down. some the light was blocked by the massive tree that lend over the edge of the hole.

The imperial stopped her sight-seeing for a blink as she noted he suddenly went quiet. A tilt of her head was all he needed to spill out his thought.

"Are you not afraid?" Karamat asked almost shakingly.

"Why would I?" At first Karamat thought she meant being in this lair as he hadn't specfically asked if she was afraid of HIM, but she knew. "Pale colors are just that, pale colors. Why be afraid of them?"

And a great weight was eased off his shoulders; All he wanted was to here those words, that his pale colors meant nothing. The others of the clan implied it, but never really spoke it aloud; well except Buchanan, but he's the leader and he needs to keep the peace. But to hear those words from a complete stranger?

A thousand times more powerful and uplifting than anything in the world.

And the weightless that he felt then stayed with him for the rest of that day as he rebounded his efforts to give to this nameless imperial a wonderful first day in her new clan.

During the night, when all had fallen into the abyss of sleep, he swirled many names in his mind for the lovely imperial with the heart of gold. two words kept swirling in his head. Regal- for the imperial was like a kind, but diginified queen to him- and dull for her colors that she wore proudly and without hestiation.

"Redula...? Redula." It fit in his mind and when he suggested the name, the imperial hugged him out of seer and unbridled joy. Buchanan's knowing smile and nod at the naming ceremony was all too ingrained in Karamat's mind. He knew, he knew bringing Redula here would brighten his world.

But that didn't mean the shifting eyes, whispers, and arguing ceased.

Sometimes... sometimes he'd feel like a nobody again.

But always Redula was there for him.

And one day, gave him his ultimate motivation when he had sulked into his room and curled up on himself. She came in knowing he needed her company and words to bring out his smile again.

"Have you ever heard the saying,"the eyes are the window to the soul?" Karamat shook his head negatively for he had never heard that saying in his life. "Your eyes give away who you really are deep inside, not your appearance." Karamat lifted his head up curiously.

"And your bright, beautiful, green gems for eyes betray that colorful and briliant soul that is you. Don't ever let that change." Karamat couldn't express his feelings to her, of his ultimate joy at having her around. He only managed to give an affectionate nuzzle which she returned full-heartedly.

Even if he were to take off and explore the universe, he knew deep down that Redula-sweet Redula- would be by him no matter the twists and turns in his fate- in THEIR fate.


	4. Arcanes and Tunnels

**A/N This is a big one~ This was done for the Arcane Writing Competition, but I thought it suited that this got added here,too :P**

Click, click, click bounced off the relatively empty halls carved out of stone. If one were to grow curious and track down the source of the clicking, they would probably be disappointed. Of course, they'd have uncovered the source of the clicking, but the noise hardly originated from a bomb or squad of dragons snapping their digits in unison.

It was just an arcane mirror, far from his birth clan, in some nature lair, tapping his claws all over the surface of his own room. But why was he doing that? One might wonder, but the mirror wouldn't say, not yet. Wouldn't even say more than a couple of words to those in his clan who DID become curious as to his activities.

They each received a hiss and a few low words from the mirror, who told each one to hush. Such unusual behavior from the rapid fire speaker, whose words most couldn't understand because the mirror felt the need to spill three sentences out as fast as saying five words. By the time the sun neared its peak, almost all other dragons left him be thinking nothing of his oddness and journeyed out to complete their assigned duties.

Almost all dragons...

In one of the farthest corners of the lair happened to be yet another arcane dragon's room, the only other one in the entire nature clan. A Guardian by the name of Impulse. A Tad short for a Guardian at only eleven meters long, but with a wing span that could challenge some imperials. Some might even mistake him for a water dragon at a quick glance due to his Azure ripple which would let him blend easily underwater.

He'd mostly complain, though, about water getting into his ears if he ever lived in a water clan. Actually, He complains about everything-mostly things dealing with noise or his ears- as the ever grumpy Guardian had an ever constant headache caused by the built-up magical energies within him.

Why those energies cause such a _horrid_ side-effect no one but other arcane dragon knew, but everyone knows to flee whenever Impulse wants to blow it off and be relieved of his blasted headache for a time.

Today was one of those days.

Today was chosen due to a rather restless, annoying, frustrating night where sleep only came when the Guardian slamed his head roughly into the closest wall. (At least one healer was going to have a fit about that.) Now he sulked through the halls seeking his personal target range that consisted of some boulders smoothed over-time by his bursts of arcane magic and trees warped by his thrashing and scratching.

The clicking of claws against stone hardly helped his foul mood. At first, Impulse tried to ignore it, but like his name suggested his fuse was short. The mirror hardly batted a single one of his four eyes when Impulse started to noisily charge straight towards his room.

"KABOS!" Well until his name was screeched to the heavens that is. But still he revealed no panic nor fright when he noticed Impulse standing in battle pose at his door. In fact, he only blinked at the guardian and dropped his neutral face into an annoyed frown. His jaw started to move when Impulse interrupted in a venomous tone, deep with barely held-back growls.

"Mind telling me WHY you must make that infuriating noise?" Impulse's eyes blazed bright at the 'why' as he shifted his mass forward. Efficiently trapping the mirror within his own room until he replied to Impulse demanding inquiry.

"Hush!" Kabos hissed out at Impulse, not in the least bit daunted by the bigger dragon in front of him. "I'm testing something." It was the same answer he tossed at everyone else who questioned his loud tapping.

"Do it quieter then!" Impulse grounded out harshly. His lit fuse almost at its end; if the grey-scale mirror refused-

"I can't." A Simple and blunt reply. Impulse exploded forward.

Kabos managed to save his own Obsidian hide by tucking his platinum wings and rolling to the right. His leafy bed, however, ended up crushed under the massive bulk of Impulse. Impulse was hardly done with his rampage and soon whipped around and unleashed a torrent of pent-up arcane magic at Kabos. The arcane wasn't a bolt of mana or an enfeeble spell. This arcane magic was wild and unfocused, spreading out wide and slamming into everything.

Even with all of Kabos experience in the Coliseum, he couldn't avoid this attack. Thankfully, he WAS an arcane dragon himself and he WAS a more seasoned fighter. These two facts combined meant that the move hardly broke the surface of his hide.

His room got totaled though, and this did not please him at all. Especially since Impulse had severely damaged his most prized possession; a desk that contained all of his artwork. Now his time to explode came, but from his jaws.

"YOU STUPID SIMPLETON! Youdestroyedordamgedallmywork!AllbecauseIwastestingoutsomething. Saidsomethingbeingimportanttothesafetyoftheclan!" A flood of words bursted forth as Kabos howled in frustration. But then he paused in the midst of throwing his head back to scream out his loss. His testing. What happened to...?

In a flash, Kabos shoved Impulse aside (who was still in attack mode) and put a single clawed digit to a spot that received the most damage. The wall surrendered at his touch and crumbled away. And although Impulse wanted to continue trying to batter Kabos, he couldn't help but stare at the massive hole in the wall.

Kabos swiftly went to work, patting the edges and walls of the hole that revealed an unknown tunnel.

"You're LUCKY," Kabos seethed out between his teeth-Still ill-tempered after his room received the brunt of Impulse's attack. "These tunnel walls are stable and won't collapse. If they did collapse it be bye-bye home sweet home!" His front limbs frantically waved about as he tried to hold in his mighty need to lash out at Impulse.

"If you were sensible you'd have told of the tunnel before this happened." Impulse growled, but much of his previous anger started to melt away. The headache was still there though.

"If I was sensible? If YOU had been sensible you would've left me be to test! My tapping on the wall was to test the best spot to dig without possibly destroying the entire lair in the process. You could have easily left to blow off steam in peace and found out later what i was doing!" Kabos snarled back, making sure to speak slowly enough for Impulse to understand. "You could've made us homeless you fool!"

Impulse, while still in the foulest of moods, backed down for the mirror had a point. In no way could he argue against Kabos' words. But his pride wouldn't let him admit his faults openly and instead he looked at the hole in the wall and back at Kabos with a curious-but-angry-stern stare.

"Explain now then." Impulse said, no longer demanding or threatening, simply curious and irritated. Kabos huffed once-twice-then turned to face the guardian fully.

"I shall explain since you so rudely interrupted my work you impatient thing." Kabos sternly said, his tail twitching and beating the floor out of held back anger. Impulse's own longer and thicker tail copied his in cutting through the tense air.

"Yesterday, I was just about to fall asleep when a loud thump-whichIthinkwasyou-woke me fully. However, the thump's vibrations enlightened me to a supposedlyabandonedtunnel," Kabos paused, waiting for a cue that Impulse understood him, which he did."I was tapping not only to find the best spot to dig, but to see-orratherhear-the dimensions of the tunnel. It seems it snakes all underneath over own lair and this-myfriend-is not good."

Not good indeed. The entire structure of the Barrow clan's lair could collapse at any moment. Impulse was definitely thinking Kabos should've warn the rest earlier about this due to that little worrying thought.

"C'mon, let's see if we can find a culprit!" Kabos quickly said after waiting for Impulse to reply. Soon he slid down the gaping hole and landed with a thunk onto the unknown tunnel's floor.

"We must warn the others first of this!" Impulse hollered from the entrance.

"Well I rather give them a more detailed report of what's going on. If _you_ want to warn the others, I'm not stopping you." Kabos hollered back as he started to inspect the part of the tunnel he was in. Impulse huffed, turned to do just that, but paused. Kabos probably shouldn't be down there alone. His guardian instincts to protect started to kick in as he wavered on the spot.

Warn the others so they know of the danger? Follow Kabos into a tunnel with other possible dangers that could kill him? Impulse shook his head, tried to leave and warn the others, but ended up squeezing through the hole in the wall and joining Kabos. Part of him now worried about the hole letting him back out once he and Kabos finished inspecting this tunnel.

"Ah coming with me then?" Kabos said with a smirk, wiggling in joy and victory. He hadn't really wanted to be down here alone. Even if he'd be exploring it with Impulse of all dragons.

"Only because you'll probably do something stupid in my absence." Impulse partly growled out. Kabos rolled his eyes and muttered "Perhaps something like you did moments ago" so fast that all Impulse heard was gibberish.

"What?" Impulse asked, having heard but not understanding the mirror's words.

"Whatever floats your boat, twit!" Kabos simply answered as he began to waltz off down the tunnel. "Now follow me. Going the Northward way will only lead us to a dead end!" Impulse grunted, but kept the insults in his head... for now.

So began their journey down this tunnel, which connected to more tunnels, and more tunnels. Kabos and Impulse needed to mark their way by scratching arrows into the sides of the various pathways. The darkness in there would make even shadow dragons uneasy, but thankfully Kabos could bring forth some light by making a shining sphere out of magic. The mirror tried to teach Impulse how to as well. But that ended in failure-better yet said failure landed in the epic category. Let's just say who ever else walked here might trip into a deep crater. Kabos refused another attempt, worried the tunnels would crush them if Impulse tried again.

Maybe another time, then. Though, Impulse blamed his poor teaching skills, Kabos fired back by blaming Impulse's bad learning techniques. So maybe not another time, then.

"Well _sorry_ O master of the glowing bubbles, but i don't exactly have a quill and parchment to write down notes." Impulse barked as they turned down yet another, extremely boring, and dull tunnel. Kabos made to retort, but halted in his tracks, surprising Impulse who quickly had to stop his left front limb from accidentally crushing the mirror.

"Quick check. Can you see the light at the end of the tunnel over there or am I going cave-crazy?" Kabos inquired as he pointed down towards the end of this particular tunnel. This, light, if it was real, would be the first _something _that was of interest down here.

"Yes." Was all Impulse said before the two dragons started to creep towards the light. Who knows what they'd find once they where under its basking rays? They could stumble upon an illegal black market or a band of familiars ready to raid and steal or... or?

A spacious room filled to the brim with unhatched eggs? Both Kabos and Impulse pulled a tilt of the head and tiny frown. Unlike Impulse though, Kabos turned into a giddy hatchling at the sight of so many eggs. Soon he was quickly tip-toe sprinting into the room and inspecting all the eggs-counting them even.

"There's got to be at least a hundred in this room alone!" Kabos whisper-shouted to Impulse who was still standing at the threshold. "Let's take them back home, shall we?"

"NO." Impulse instantly growled out. "That's a terrible idea! These are obviously somebody's eggs and not ours." The smile on Kabos' face fell as he reconsidered his previous suggestion.

"True...Sorry I kinda got caught up in my excitement," Kabos' smile returned as a thought came to him then. "But what if these eggs were stolen? If they were THEN could we bring these eggs back home? You know... so we can find their parents and what not?" A little hopeful grin plastered on his face as he stared at Impulse with puppy eyes.

"..."Impulse stood silently by the entrance as Kabos' pleading eyes bore through him. Normally, puppy eyes held little effect on Impulse, but Kabos knew well how to twist his natural arcane reserves. Impulse twitched under those eyes, attempting to not surrender to the spell. In his futile struggle, the guardian thought about what they'd do with all those unhatched eggs. If all those hatchlings hatched at once... Impulse's headache worsen at the thought, but the thought didn't relieve him of Kabos' 'puppy eye' spell.

"Fine," Impulse grumbled, giving up, but before Kabos could celebrate he continued."BUT, if they hatch-any of them-you're raising them alone. Also you're carrying the Plague eggs back, not me." Now the grin crumpled away completely, but Kabos still quivered excitedly.

"Now let's see if we can find the owner or owners." Impulse said as he checked around the spacious room for any more openings to other rooms. Sure enough, this room branched into many other curious rooms. Unlike the room filled with eggs, the others... looked at if a hyper wind dragon had sweep through each one. Hardly anything was organized; scrolls wedged between fish, apparel plastered onto the walls, bones scattered on top of junk. The worst surprise was being jumped by a phytocat.

Thankfully that particular phytocat was rather tame, the familiar only trying to get the two arcane dragons away from the pile of meat it feasted upon.

"Dear Arcanist and Gladekeeper... I hope there isn't more of those familiarbuggers hiding around here. Especiallythetalking ones." Kabos said worriedly in a low voice. Talking familiars were the worst in his opinion. Why? Well if a dragon asked you'd get an hour long speech and you'd understand none of it. Something about an old ruin and using mackerel like swords while fighting in tall grass.

The phytocat faked charged them again with a powerful, ear clawing yowl.

"We're going, we're going!" Kabos screeched at the bamboo-backed cat. Impulse simply covered his ear-holes with his eye spot wings to block out the phytocats yowls. The ungodly noise hardly helped his chronic headache.

"Where ARE you two going?" Kabos and Impulse froze, the phytocat too. Hidden before by one of the many heaps of random objects was a lone Tundra. A Mulberry and Ivory tundra... with a bandanna... and various gold jewelry.

It was Crim... Impulse let out a lengthy groan and placed his head firmly on what little space the floor offered.

"To explore more of... your lair?" Kabos started as Impulse quietly mumbled his hate out. "I mean! This lair was... IS under our own lair, we were lookingforitsowner or owners."

"Oh the owner would be me then!" Crim exclaimed not at least bit offended... or worried. You'd think for an earth dragon she'd known a thing or two about tunnels.

"Yeah... well you see-"Kabos started, but instantly got interrupted by Impulse.

"You have to remove some of your tunnels! You threaten our own clan of fifty above!" Impulse almost all, but shouted as he glare harshly like the sun at Crim.

"So rude of you, Impulse." Kabos said with a scowl. However, he wasn't talking about Impulse partly threatening Crim, it was more along the lines of 'Did you just cut me off?!'

"Anyway, in more polite terms," Kabos glanced at Impulse whose poster betrayed the urge to smack something. "Hold on." Kabos told Crim as she stood there a little baffled, but she'd wait, having someone to talk to was wonderful. A quick swat to the arm cued Impulse to follow the plain Obsidian mirror into one of the other rooms.

"Impulse, no." Kabos sternly said once the two were out of ear-shot. Impulse simply huffed, his headache worsening ever more. Probably should of forgot about this and gone to burn off his excess energy.

"You can't bite other dragons' heads off-especially ones you don't know!" Kabos whispered with authority.

"I know her plenty enough." Impulse grumbled out. He did recall her nabbing an egg off of his birth clan as well as a costly gene scroll. She was nothing but a clever thief in his mind... sorta... she _did _paid for the objects-just at a overly low rate. So low not even the deepest-darkest abyss in the sea of a thousand currents could go lower.

"Still you can't start beating her around like a rag doll,"Kabos hissed; he really didn't have time for Impulse's short fuse. "Now, hold in your anger for a while and soon she won't be bothering us-moreparticularlyyou- again" Impulse sighed, but didn't promise anything. Kabos assumed this was the best he'd get out of the azure guardian.

"Alright. I'll do the chatting and we'll be done in no time." Kabos had said, but once him and the tundra started talking they continued on and on and on. The guardian should've known considering Kabos' reputation as a lengthy talker. Impulse once again began thumping his head onto the ground in frustration. Surely night had fallen during their chit-chatting and the rest of the clan were wondering where the two of them are! A low rumble in the distance stopped the two before Impulse could whip around and throw a few sparks of magic at the both of them. It faded, but then came back.

All three paused in what they were doing. The rumble grew louder and soon all kinds of objects toppled over. The forgotten phytocat scrambled away-heaving some kind of leg- in the opposite direction of the rumbling. Impulse was first to react, charging through rooms towards the exit that lead to the tunnels. Nothing looked good. A billion cracks had crawled all over the ceiling and bits of soil and stone started to crumple away.

Suddenly one of the many connecting tunnels collapsed. Dust and debris swamped Impulse's vision as all of the ceiling fell away with a sound as loud as a thundering waterfall. And like dominoes, the other tunnels followed suit. The worse part of it all was the fact that the collapsing tunnels happened to be the ones that lead to their clan; their home.

Impulse backed up into the rooms, coughing up the dust he breathed in. Part of him prayed that the rooms were stabler than the tunnels, but even then he spotted signs that pointed out otherwise. Kabos and Crim soon stumbled into the egg room, Crim constantly spilling out apologies.

"You should've finished your conversation sooner Kabos!" Impulse roared over the deafening sound of stone and earth slamming into the ground.

"But the tunnels shouldn't have collapsed under the current conditions! It was unstable, but not unstable enough to fall on its own!" Kabos practically screamed back with a confusion ridden face. More cracks started to form on the ceiling above them-they needed to move, but...

"What about the eggs? We need to go, but we can't leave them here to be crushed!" Impulse hollered his concern as it became more likely every second the room wouldn't be safe anymore.

"I wish I could use teleportation, but my magic reserves even at full wouldn't be able to perform it!" Kabos yelled the bad news. "Maybe you could? Your stores of magic are much greater than mine, but _you need to focus._" This was all going to end badly, wasn't it? Impulse shook himself to get rid of that thought. No, they were all getting out of here!

"Problem with that, I don't know the teleportation spell nor have I the training the focus my energies!" Impulse shouted back at Kabos who paced restlessly, pausing sometimes to tap his claws harshly on his forehead. The guardian looked from Kabos to the worrying cracks, any second now the ceiling would be on the floor. Then he looked to Kabos again, this time the mirror had widen-eyes and a smile of hope darting across his features.

"CRIM!" Kabos shouted almost hysterically, grabbing the panicking Tundra's shoulders."You're a collector, yes?"A nod."Perhaps you have a certain arcane device? It's a bit rare and nearly unheard of as it's mostly in prototype stage at the moment, but it can link two arcane dragons' magic reserves together in order to fire off more and/or trickier spells!" Kabos was grinning like an idiot at this point. Crim face lightened up as well.

"Yes, I got an older model off a dragon before who no longer had a use for it!" Crim shouted in glee and soon darted off to search her piles upon piles of stuff.

"There's no way she's gonna find it in time." Impulse grumbled out, but a section of the tunnel near the exit collapsed and soon had Impulse spreading his massive wings over all the eggs he could. You know, in case Crim didn't find this device in time. Thankfully she was only gone for a few seconds.

"I recently got this, so it was only a room or two away." Crim said as she handed the extremely odd looking device to Kabos. The mirror quickly snatched it and inspected every inch of its angler surface and wires. He mumbled out something unheard in the ruckus before shouting "this will do!"

Kabos quickly ran up to Impulse with the device safely clamped between his teeth along with a few odd looking circles. Even before Kabos could start explaining, part of the room fell. Some of the debris scrapping Impulse's right wing.

"Okay not going to explain too much, but I'll place these little blue circles on you and the pink ones on me at points where our magic is most powerful. When I say let loose-send as much of your reserves to me so I can teleport us out of here!" Kabos spilled out quickly as he started placing the odd semi-circles onto Impulse's forehead, along his jaw, and arms. Four had been placed on his forehead, where it was obvious most of his lines of magic connected at. How many lines where there, though, was not obvious.

Kabos had only one placed on his forehead and the others were spaced more evenly and spread out than Impulse's own. All in all each had nine little odd (and maybe a bit rusted) circle-connectors on them when Kabos flipped the switches and yelled.

"Okay, GO!" At the simple command, Impulse let loose his reserves which were drained from him and sent to Kabos. Problems arose though. One, the old device simply couldn't handle the amount of energy Impulse sent down the line all at once and started to spark, nearly failing all together. Two, Kabos nearly collapsed like the tunnels- his reserves stretch out to nearly breaking point, but he shakingly stayed up and fought for control; If he could actually cast the spell was another question as he struggled. Third, the part of the room above Impulse gave way.

The many layers of stone and soil slammed the guardian downwards, Impulse barely able to prevent his weight from crushing the eggs underneath him. Worst of all, the device died-not able to handle the stress any longer. And Kabos was about to past out. Even with only a quarter of Impulse's magic successfully sent to him, his mirror body hardly had any place to store the magic. The energy crackled all over his trembling body seeking even a tiny spot to land and settle. But time was up, Kabos needed to teleport them all away, NOW.

With a horrid screech, Kabos forced his over-taxed mind and body to obey him and with a flash of pink, the trio and hundreds of eggs vanished. The earth would claim none of their lives as it angrily crushed the room into nothing.

Somewhere above ground, an observer might noticed a flashing light in the middle of nowhere. It flickered and flared as the light tired to expel its passengers. Well over a minute passed before it could do so. Crim landed relatively safely, merely stumbling, but Kabos face-planted onto the ground in exhaustion while Impulse was simply thrown down unceremoniously. The eggs ended up exploding outwards, but the soft grass in the area made sure none were harmed.

"Oh! you two okay?" Crim cried once she corrected her footing. A groan came from Kabos, but Impulse uttered nothing. The tundra quickly went to their aid and peeled off the connectors some of which had burst and left scorch marks surrounding them. Kabos groaned again before attempting to rise to his feet, but then regretted that decision.

"oh my _deities_, why...?" Kabos hissed as his world swam and for the first time experienced an Impulse-like headache. "How can you live like this Impulse?" Kabos slowly groaned out as he buried his head in his front paws. Even when Impulse didn't reply Kabos continued his whining and self-bickering. Crim had to poke him a thousand times before Kabos more or less came back to his senses. Still being unable to stand, Kabos crawled towards Impulse and simply placed an ear to impulse's chest, listening for a heart-beat. Kabos nearly laughed as he pulled away and would've if everything wasn't sore or on fire at the moment.

"He fell asleep."Kabos happily wheezed out; even giggles hurt. The light snore coming from the guardian was enough to lighten the headache between Kabos' eyes. Crim, on the other hand, tried to explain that Impulse was knocked out and/or concussed. Kabos was too out of it to understand. Several minutes flew by before Kabos could even sit up right. critical-thinking thoughts soon came after.

"The eggs?" Okay, maybe not quite critical thinking, but the mirror was getting there. Crim simply made a gesture all around them. Everywhere, eggs rested on the ground and some even in a couple of bushes. Then there was one stuck in a tree which boggled Kabos' clouded mind. A minute break past before Kabos asked his next question.

"What caused the tunnels to collapse so suddenly?" Kabos slurred as his brain tried to play catch-up. Part of him vaguely remembered him trying to teach Impulse to create a ball of light, but another part told him that was stupid.

"Probably the meteor shower." Crim said. Wait... the wasn't right Kabos thought. Surely he'd know if a meteor was scheduled to happened? Being as confused as he was, Kabos stared up into the evening sky searching for the supposed 'meteor shower'. Nothing.

"Liar." Kabos lazily hissed after staring at the sky for a few seconds. By this point Crim had settled by Impulse's side, shaking him now and then in hopes of waking him.

"Am not. You were so out of it you missed it! The sky was filled with a few massive ones, one of them might've punched though the ground and hit the tunnels." Crim kindly explained further before turning back to Impulse who showed signs of waking.

"Nowjustwaitthere..." Kabos rose to his feet clumsily. "If there were meteors coming from the arcane flight's favorite mystery-space and stars- how could I, an arcane dragon, not know of this?" Kabos spilled as he started to shakingly walk about. If only he remembered that he hadn't yet gotten his new telescope in the mail nor had he been in touch with any other arcane dragons (besides Impulse) in awhile.

Crim started saying something, but Kabos hadn't bothered to listen to her anymore-lost in his own scrambled thoughts. And then he tumbled into a crater.

"Oh," Kabos started as he came to realize what he slipped down into. "I guess there was a meteor shower then?" Currently, his world was upside down, but once he rolled over he noted that Impulse's eyes fluttered opened.

"Ugh." Impulse groaned as he gently rubbed the burn marks on his forehead. Soon his head rose off the ground and he began observing his surroundings.

"Well at least my headache's gone away." Impulse slowly said as he recovered. He dared not test his legs just yet.

"Yeah, thanks for giving it to me," Kabos tiredly growled as he struggled to climb out of the shallow crater. "How you manage to bare it as long as you do-thatiseveryday- I'm surprise you haven't gone loony." Crim had walked over and help Kabos the rest of the way out as the mirror talked. Soon afterwards Kabos flopped onto the ground and just let go a loud groan.

Neither one of them bothered to say anything for a few minutes. For the moment they just wanted to rest.

"The clan!" Kabos' suddenly bolted upright with a shout. He immediately regretted doing so and laid back down with a moan of discomfort. Impulse, however, still had plenty of energy left and so recovered much faster than the mirror.

"I'll go check. Crim... Just make sure Kabos doesn't do anything at all." Impulse said as he slowly rose to his feet, testing the waters on his capabilities for the moment. After a minute of standing, Impulse judged correctly that he could actually walk now by himself. But first, where were they? Impulse mostly stayed indoors and guarded the lair so he wasn't too familiar with any of the surroundings.

"Turn right at the boulder until you hit the creek, lair's a few hundred yards away." Kabos muttered from his spot on the ground. Impulse stared for a moment; how did Kabos know he needed directions. But the mirror was still too out of it and Impulse decided to forget about that detail for now.

However, once Impulse managed to get to the boulder the size of himself... He noticed a new ravine with other branching ravines where none should be. They were in his way.

"Great..." Impulse muttered as he judged the distance from one edge to the other. Most tunnels were made to allow imperials to past through so the gap was hardly easy to jump over. Impulse would have to at least glide to clear the ravine.

The guardian twitched, stretched, and flapped his steel eye spot wings in preparation of what he had to do. Just as he tensed his muscles for the leap, a tundra on the other side appeared from the bushes and hollered at him. Still being a tad bit disoriented, Impulse had to pause and squint at the tundra for awhile. Crim? No, the colors were all wrong. This tundra was clearly beige with rust wings and not mulberry and ivory.

"Impulse? You okay over there?" The tundra hollered again, this time Impulse could understand him. Impulse soon face-palmed. The tundra was the leader's eldest son, Gavrilo and the scout was obviously doing his job.

"Fine, a bit injured, but fine none the less," Impulse hollered over the ravine to the tundra. "How's the clan doing?"

"A chunk of the lair collapsed,"Gavrilo shouted from under his white hood."We thought you and Kabos got trapped underneath-you two were the only ones missing during the earthquake or whatever." The worried tone wasn't missed by Impulse.

"Kabos is fine, too. We went to check some tunnels under our lair- You can see what happened to them." Impulse yelled back to calm Gavrilo down a bit. It worked as the tundra's body relaxed.

"You two get into a fight down there?" Gavrilo said with a hearty laugh."Anyway, need any help?" Impulse thought for a moment, his pride wanting to say no, but his instincts saying yes.

"Kabos does. He's a bit tired and loopy from the experience down there." Impulse began, a small plan forming in his head. "Maybe bring the whole clan. The tunnels belonged to Crim the Hoarder." Gavrilo nodded several times understandably before spreading his wings and flying to grab the others. There was going to be a lot of digging and salvaging in the next few days.

Once Gavrilo faded into the distance, Impulse turned around and went to check on Crim and Kabos. When he did, he almost panicked. The two were nowhere in sight. the only clue the two still roamed the area was the growing, neat little pile of eggs in the middle of the clearing.

"Kabos?" Impulse questioningly said as he approached the pile of unhatched eggs. A happy shrill of laughter replied along with a playfully angry shout. Two seconds later Kabos glided down to earth from the tree both he and Crim had climbed up with said tundra hot on his heels. In Kabos' vice like grip was an Arcane egg, the only egg that had somehow ended up on top of a tree. A raised brow was all Impulse needed to give before Kabos started spilling the beans.

"I won a bet!" Kabos shouted with overly happy laughter. Crim fumed next to him, but wasn't too serious about it. Impulse looked to Crim to explain further.

"How a dizzy, tired, mirror managed to climb the tree and snatch the egg before me is baffling..." Tundra said with a shake of her woolly head. "The bet was if he got the egg in the tree before me... he got to keep it."

"Kabos, NO." Impulse immediately said as a scowl formed just as quickly as he glared at the hyper mirror dancing about.

"She flew to get it, too!" Kabos hollered out after a fit of laughter. "I didn't!" Impulse sighed, he'd deal with that later.

"Anyway, my clan's coming to help clean up the collapsed tunnels and retrieve as much of your stuff as possible." Impulse said to Crim as Kabos continued his little victory dance. While Impulse never wants any eggs to be in Crim's possession-Taking even one the way Kabos did wasn't how he wanted to removed them from the hoarder. Something to do with gambling in his younger years.

"Why thank you, this... accident should be cleaned up soon enough with the help of your clan!" Crim exclaimed with joy. Impulse gave a puff of irritation despite being in a much better mood now that his headache was gone.

"Listen here. Never, EVER, dig tunnels again without checking the area first. You could've gotten someone _killed_ today including yourself." Impulse said sternly, but Crim hardly looked worried about the fact.

"True, but no one did, did they?" Crim said with a smile. Impulse simply growled threateningly in response. "Alright, calm down. I'll remember your advice." Probably not Impulse thought, but he let it slide for now. Currently he had other issues to attend to, one being a certain obsidian mirror. But before he could start to lecture him, a late little meteor targeted Kabos' forehead.

It was quite sudden; one second Kabos was spinning around with his striped wings flared out in joy and the next he's on the ground with a steaming space rock next to his head. The meteor had hit hard enough for a small red mark to appear on the now unconscious Kabos' forehead, but light enough that no real damage was done.

All Impulse could do was sigh as he looked down upon Kabos as he continued to clutch the arcane egg.

For now, he'd have to settle with the task of egg hunting until the rest of the clan showed up to sweep up this little apocalypse.


End file.
